Are Valve big meanies? Apparently folk who bought the retail version of Valve’s Orange Box from online stores that flog cheap – but legit – boxed copies from foreign climes such as Russia and Thailand are finding that, after a week of happy play, they’re suddenly punished for saving a few bucks… How? Read on.
According to a letter-writer to the Consumerist, and backed up by a long thread of complainants here, such penny-pinchers have found Team Fortress 2, Portal et al are no longer playable, Steam all of a sudden proferring only the message that they’re in the ‘incorrect territory’.
Here’s an email exchange one guy had with Valve on the matter:
Hello my cd-key was invalidated and game removed
i get a steam error
Steam – Game unavailable
Team Fortress 2 is not available in your territoryok so i contacted retailer to get a refund
and purchased a new copy at a local Circuit City here in Tacoma
but when i enter new cd-key says game is already installed log in to steam
but of course that doesn’t work and takes me back to
Steam – Game unavailable
Team Fortress 2 is not available in your territoryso i guess i need the supposedly invalid cd-key removed
so i can enter my new one
thanksThe response from Valve:
Games purchased in Thailand or Russia can only be played from those countries. If you purchased a game from Thailand or Russia and you do not live in one of those countries, you need to contact the seller for a refund.
I don’t think anyone’s quite desperate enough to play Episode 2 on the cheap to up sticks to another continent, so refunds seem to be the only answer, though initially the invalidated serial numbers prevented adding new ones. Now though, many folk in the same boat have managed to get their blocked overseas Orange Boxes removed and have either grudgingly bought new, full-price versions from their own territories, or have resorted to the predictable, if understandable, never-buying-a-Valve-game-again-you-utter-bastards ranting
We love Valve here at RPS. But this just doesn’t seem right. To use the cliche little man versus enormous corporation argument, God knows they make enough money not to have to do this. If there’d been a warning, if Steam hadn’t accepted the keys in the first place, if the sellers and not the buyers had been punished, I don’t think I’d feel so aghast.
The lesson would seem to be duh, don’t buy import stuff. But this is the internet. It’s built upon cat pictures (stop it now Walker- you’ve got your own blog for that), eye-watering amounts of pornography and bargain-hunting, after all. This is a pretty large-scale wrist-slapping for a very common practice.
In happier news, in Spain the Orange Box is known as ‘La Caja Anaranjada’, which is a thousand awesomes cooler than the prosaic English version. It sounds like Mexican druglords or something.
Related Stories:
I just bought the PC Orange Box from an ebay seller within my own country (Australia).
This vendor (http://stores.ebay.com.au/24-7-TRENDY-ZONE) stated “BRAND NEW FULL ENGLISH RETAIL” in their add. The box, when it arrived however says that it is for the “Hong Kong & Macau” area.
At this point I’m not sure if the vendor is acting inapporiatley as per Steams regional distribution policy, and whether I’ve been duped.
I have not installed this yet. So, I would like to know:
A) Will this work in my region, Australia? Will Steam validate it?
B) If so, does the “Hong Kong & Macau” version work in English?
C) If indeed it does work, but not in English can it be patched?
Given that a full re-install via a Steam download would be impractical (I’m on dial up) I may have to get a refund and buy this elsewhere. But I hope I don’t have to.
Thank you in advance.
[...]thank[....]
Update:
Seems as if this problem doesn’t apply to Hong Kong & Macau games. My seller assures me.
It plays great, and all in English.
Problem DOES affect Hong Kong & Macau games.
Yes Asia sold me one of them (despite advertising “English Version” at the time – now changed online after the lockdown I notice).
They are offering store credit for a return (to Hong Kong from the UK !) but for me it’s a refund or a “dear trading offices, did you know Yes Asia is selling illegal copies of…”
Certainly not after a replacement – I buy games, not temporary passes to potentially playing a game. As long you don’t move countries. Or swap computers. Or we invent another rule as we choose after the sale so it’s too late to do anything about it…
P.s. I hate Steam :)
as long as they don’t block games imported from uk or us – i am from germany – i could not care less
in fact i have never considered buying games which originate in russia or thailand for several reasons:
- not getting what i paid for is one reason
- getting a pirated key is another one
- buying games in the original language with box and all and mostly us versions is the main reason for me
that means even if i am from germany 99% of the games i buy are the us release, the rest is uk release and besides that nothing, so no german release
@ jimmyDedd: even if it works your seller still lied to you
lol … i have just been notified that this “news” is 1.5 years old :)